Synopsis "Ulysses ii (in English)"
Ulysses II (Mallorca Narrative Prize) What if you woke up one day and didn't remember anything - not even your own name? A man wakes up on a luxury cruise-ship and finds he has lost his memory. He doesn't know his name, how he got there or even what he looks like. Who is he? Will he ever recover his memory? And does he even care? Throughout his time on board the prestigious Ulysses II, with its plush carpets, attentive staff and succulent food, our hero starts to relax into a new life in which he can be whoever or whatever he wants. Along the way, he collects a bizarre array of people among his fellow passengers, as well as discovering some strange and often unsavoury truths about them - and about himself in his former life. But nothing can prepare the characters aboard the luxury ship for the dramatic dénouement...Incisively written, slipping effortlessly from gritty realism to refined, lyrical prose, Ulysses II touches on such diverse topics as sex, euthanasia, and personal identity. A frank and thought-provoking insight into the human condition, our relationships with others and the importance - or otherwise - of our past, together with a fast-paced and unpredictable storyline, makes this novelist's début in English a gripping holiday read. Ignasi Mora (born in Gandia, Valencian Country, Spain in 1952) is the author of numerous novels, essays and press articles. He works as a journalist and has contributed to English-language newspapers aimed at British expatriates living in Spain. All their literature is written in Catalan. Among his intriguing and poignant novels are Finale (1990); The voices of the family (1992); Mela (1997), and May (2006). Ignasi has also published the short-story compilations of The voices of the town (1999), based in his birthplace, Gandia, and An endless current (2000). Ulysses II, Ignasi's first work to be published in English, won the Mallorca Narrative Prize in 2007 a year before hitting the shelves in his country. His sharp, observant and often disturbing fiction, which touches on subjects frequently ignored or shied away from, is at once poetic and down-to-earth and invites the reader to examine life from all angles. Ignasi now lives in a quiet, rural village in the Valencian Country.
